Mendon was joyful and jubilant, Friday afternoon, when car 103 of the Milford & Uxbridge street railway line, with Gen. Manager E. W. Goss at the controller handle, swung into Mendon center from North Avenue with a party of invited and hardly less enthusiastic guests from Milford and Hopedale, signalizing the formal opening of the line. The car was in charge of conductor W. F. Cozzens and motorman B. R. Tobey, but Manager Goss was the car’s pilot on the trip. The start was made from Milford about 1:10 and the run was made slowly, guests being picked up on the way, and thus the full beauty of the charming scenery on the route and especially the line itself, its construction, bridges and the great improvements at Lake Mendon park were fully inspected and enjoyed. The long bridge over Hopedale Pond; the deep rock cuts between Mendon and Hopedale; the road through Mendon streets and private land; the pretty entrance to Lake Mendon park, the cozy waiting station, and the power station about opposite; the long bridges in Uxbridge; each were well examined and deservedly praised. The progress of the car, which was appropriately decorated with flags and followed by two special cars for use of Uxbridge school children, through Mendon was an ovation. Practically every house on the route was decorated in some way, salutes were fired, bells were rung and a general jubilation was evident. In the center adjoining the track the school children were ranged in cheering ranks, bells were rung, residents waved a welcome from their doors. The occupants of the cars cordially returned the greeting. Salutes were fired by Alderman Cook, Frank Taft and Henry W. Brown – the latter’s cannon taking an extra kick as it was discharged. At the home of A. N. Darling, handbells were vigorously rung and handkerchiefs were waved by the assembled ladies. The next paragraph of the article lists names of the Mendon people whose homes were decorated for the occasion. They include Taft (4)), Freeman, Dudley (3), Barnes store, Smith, Arsenault, Bartlett, Brown, Hogarth, Kinsley, Cook, Inman, Hoagland, Adams, Darling, Staples, Rhodes (2), Kelley, Hill, Cornwell, and Southwick. On reaching Uxbridge, the guests invaded the local library and stores for souvenirs and sight seeing during the half-hour stay and the return trip was very merry, to which a lively rubber ball largely contributed. The party reached Milford at 4 P.M. The next paragraph lists the guests on the trolley, including Cook, Hickey, Jenkins, Williams, Bowker, Billings, Grayson, Holbrook, Remick, Leahy, Blaisdell, Bixby, and Pond of Milford; Jordan and Andrew of Hopedale; Freeman, Kinsley, Taft (2), Hoagland, and Hill of Mendon; Hamilton, Scott (2), Mansfield, Taft, Hobbs, Allen, Sessions, Gunn, Wheelock, Blanchard and Root of Uxbridge. Mr. Taft of Mendon related a notable bit of local history when he remembered that 70 years ago this month Boston surveyors were at work at Mendon to solve the practicability of use of Mendon pond as a feeder canal for a proposed Boston and Providence inland canal. Milford Daily Journal, December 21, 1901. Thanks to Dick Grady for sending this article and the map at the bottom of this page, and thanks to Bob Heglund for the pictures showing the office and car barn in Milford and those showing the trolley in the center of Uxbridge.

This postcard has scenes from each of the towns that the Milford & Uxbridge Street Railway passed through.

M. & U. Line Opened

First Formal Trip Over That Line Friday Afternoon

Mendon People Jubilant – Houses Decorated

Enthusiasm Everywhere

“C. A. Blakesley & Co., contractors for the Milford & Uxbridge St. Ry., are rushing the construction of the railway through Mendon. They have laid tracks through the center as far as the Soldiers’ Monument, this being only a mile from Mendon Pond. It is expected it will require two weeks to reach the pond as but half the way has been graded. There is still a small section to lay at the Hopedale end, and then the company will begin to run the trolley and feed wires.” – Street Railway Journal, September 7, 1901.